DSL Not starting any which way
Forum: DSL Embedded
Topic: DSL Not starting any which way
started by: Bushy
Posted by Bushy on Oct. 08 2006,20:56
HiI have a old Acer TravelMate 507DX laptop running windows 98SE which is one step away from being a door stop.
I decided that it would be a good way to learn about Linux before it finally bites the dust. After a bit of research DSL looks suited to its modest size. Processor 466Mhz Celeron, 160 MB RAM, 4GB HDD.
I have downloaded and burnt a CD with "current.iso", "dsl-3.0.1.iso" ,"dsl-3.0.1-syslinux.iso and in desperation "dsl-3.0.1-emdedded".
The BIOS is set to boot from the floppy disk 1st, then the CD and finally the HDD. Every time, though, the computer boots straight to Win 98 - never been so stable!
I then tried extracting the embeded file to a seperate "Linux" directory and running the bat file. All I get is a window which opens for maybe a second then nothing. I tried running the gemu.exe file directly and all I see is a window with a script running, then nothing. It happens so fast I can't even press the "Print Screen" button in time to capture a picture.
What have I missed?
Please be gentle this is the first time I've ever had anything to do with Linux
Posted by dtf on Oct. 08 2006,22:23
When you say you have burned you CD what exactly is on the CD? You are burning an iso image so you should get some directories and files.
Posted by Bushy on Oct. 09 2006,19:08
Origionally I have just four files on the disk. Current.iso; dsl-3.0.1.iso;dsl-3.0.1-embeded.zip and dsl-3.0.1-syslinux.iso. Having reread the instructions I have burnt another CD from Nero making it bootable. This time it boots to dos - at least not Windows! By the way the new CD has the same files as the previous disk.I'm puzzled why the embeded DSL does not work as well as the bootable versions?
Posted by Zucca on Oct. 09 2006,20:31
Um. You have to burn that *.iso file's contents to a cd. But not just 'unzipping' it and then brun files.You have to choose an option from your burning software that allows you to burn disk images.
Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Oct. 09 2006,21:03
Using Nero for the .iso's:Recorder>Burn Image...
Which "instructions" did you follow?
Posted by Bushy on Oct. 10 2006,19:43
Thanks for the help guys. I'm now up and running.I looked at the instructions in the DSL Wiki and did not know about burning an image rather than just a file. Is it just me or are the instructions not that clear to newbies like me?
Anyway DSL looks wonderful and performs well on my old machine -- next problem is I don't know how to stop smilling.
Once again thanks for the help
Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Oct. 10 2006,20:19
Are you still smiling in your sleep? 
Note: instructions on burning the cd image are not explicit because there are thousands of applications that can do the same thing - not to mention the commericial ones (for example, Nero is commericial). However I suppose the more-well known applications could be added, but I'm unsure of the community's stance on supporting commericial software.
Posted by Bushy on Oct. 11 2006,19:04
Yes I think I must be smiling all the time - can't now imagine why everyone does not use linux.As to your point about burning the image. It would have been helpful to me if the instructions had been a little bit more specific that an image needed to be burnt rather than files. It was a case of I thought I understood what was needed and just registered that a CD needed to be burnt.
Any way thanks again
Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Oct. 11 2006,20:19
There actually is a wiki page for this for those who still are looking< http://damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/Burning_a_Bootable_CD >
Posted by Zucca on Oct. 11 2006,21:08
| Quote (Bushy @ Oct. 11 2006,17:04) |
| can't now imagine why everyone does not use linux. |
Because of the games.
It is possible play almost every Windows game on Linux too:
1. With Emulator. Uses very much CPU.
2. With wine. But it usually needs a lot of configuration if you want to play more advanced games. I've seen a screenshot where World Of Warcraft was running with wine. ;D
I'd like to play Starcraft with Linux, but It takes so much configuration to set up network game feature so I haven't done it... yet.
I usually play Daimonin (not much nowdays) or emulator games.
Now I spend my time to play trough Final Fantasy VI / III. ^_^
Posted by Sparkfist on Nov. 11 2006,00:58
Well I'm having a simalar problem to this, so I'm going to post it here.I'm looking to install DSL 3.0.1 on a Toshiba Satellite Pro 430cdt. The specs are 48MB ram, 2.2GB hard drive and it only boots via hard disk or floppy. The problem I'm running into is that when ever I try to boot DSL I get a "boot fail" error after selecting an option. I've choicen from the default, lowram, and install.
Anything that might be interfering with the boot process?
Posted by Ramik on Nov. 11 2006,07:36
Sparkfist:You don't need lowram since my 32mb PC doesn't...
Its probably a kernel module acting up, that tends to happen with laptop.
But since I just noticed this (I see they ignored you :-) ):
< http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?t=128840 >
I decided to look up further and I found this on your specific laptop so it might be worth something:
< http://www.freakazoid.org/reference/tosh/ >
Maybe most importantly this:
< http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/f/topic-3-1-8643-15.html >
So by the last one it might be worth trying a different version of DSL...
Posted by Sparkfist on Nov. 12 2006,16:55
Thank you this does help.